Scrivener makes me spaz

Raise of hands, who loves Scrivener? *raises both hands* What? You don’t know about Scrivener? Why, it’s only the most awesome writing program out there! I came across it back when the Windows version was still in beta, and as of yesterday am now a registered user! I had a geek-tacular spaz attack when I noticed I no longer need to use MobiCreator to convert my doc files into .mobi files. Scrivener does it and faster.

As many know, I’m in the throws of revision… dun dun dunnnnn… but in reality with Scrivener it’s not been too bad. At the moment I’m breaking each chapter into smaller scenes. After that I can manipulate my scenes where I see they work the best. on either the binder or in cork board.

Now ain’t that just the purdiest thang!

Scrivener allows you to change the look of the program so that it’s more pleasing to the eye, unlike Word that has only 3 settings. 

So, whats the first thing you should do when you open Scrivener? Well, I went and bought David Hewson’s book that explains all the goodies Scrivener has to offer writers. Then I nabbed his layout for free HERE. I'll go over how to get started.

Got the layout? Open the folder and double click on Sample Project, then go to file, and save as <whatever your books name it>.

Click on the PART folder and then on title page. Easy peasy, fill in your books title page, then click CHAPTER and OPENING. After that you can follow along with Mr. Hewson’s instructions or start writing.

Scrivener is made to be simple on the writer, but I highly recommend getting Mr. Hewson’s book if you want to know all the in’s and out’s of the program. Like going to Project -> Project targets to set goals for your work, or Project -> Project Statistics to get your word count, character count, and page count on your project or scene. So many tools!

Scrivener even has a free 30 day trial which you can stretch out if you don't close the program daily ;) so you can get a feel for if this program is for you or not.

I’m really enjoying being able to mark up my MS on screen and not having to worry about those marks showing in print. When I compile, I get to choose all that I want or don't want and how. It’s so amazing.

Oh, and did I mention automatic saves AND backups? No? Well it has that too!

I highly recommend getting your tushie over to Literature and Latte and download this program… Now! Go,go,go,go!

Ta!

A.McBay